A Selection of New York City Restaurants Join the Roster of Michelin-Starred Prestige
On November 18, Michelin, which is well known for its restaurant rating MICHELIN Guide, held its 2025 Michelin Northeast Cities ceremony in Philadelphia. Among the nominees attending from New York, D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston, several restaurants in New York City received Michelin stars and various honors. Annie Shi of the Chinatown wine bar Lei, located at 15-17 Doyers Street was the recipient of the Sommelier Award and India Doris of Markette, located at 326 Seventh Avenue received the Young Chef Award. A few of the city’s existing Michelin-star dining spots were elevated during the ceremony, Sushi Sho, rose to the highest possible honor upon being awarded its third Michelin Star. The omakase restaurant by chef Keiji Nakazawa that opened in early 2024 at 3 East 41st Street was reportedly “the only restaurant to earn a third star for the first time this year.” In addition, Joo Ok, located in the city’s Koreatown neighborhood at 22 West 32nd Street, earned a second star. Newcomers joining the list of restaurants added to the prestigious MICHELIN Guide having earned their first star included Bridges, which opened in 2024 at 9 Chatham Square in Chinatown, and Yamada, the eatery that offers a “chef’s kaiseki counter” which is a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner.
Finally, Lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood boasted two newly Michelin-starred restaurants — Muku, which opened earlier this fall at 412 Greenwich Street in Tribeca offers a Japanese tasting menu, and Huso, located at 323A Greenwich Street features a “reimagined seafood and meat plates” menu. The MICHELIN Guide which dates back to 1889, initially served as a “small guide fill with handy information for travelers.” Envisioned by brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin, the guide was a marketing tool to boost car sales and in turn, tire sales at their eponymous tire company in central France through its offering of maps, how to change a tire, locations to get petrol, and a listing of places to eat or take shelter for the night according to the historical background information on Michelin’s website. Initially offered free of charge, in 1920 a brand-new MICHELIN Guide was launched that for the first time included a list of Paris hotels and restaurants and sold for seven francs. Strong interest in the guide’s restaurant section led to the recruiting of a team on mystery diners, which are better known today as restaurant inspectors to begin reviewing restaurants anonymously. Subsequently, the reviews lead to the launch of a star awards program in 1926 that evolved into the “hierarchy of zero, one, two, and three stars” over the next five years; and in 1936 Michelin began publishing the criteria for the starred rankings.
Source: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/restaurants/michelin-awards-2025-stars-ny-restaurants-sushi-sho-joo-ok